OK so I admit it; these are not very interesting. In fact, they’re pretty mundane in the grand scheme of promotional products. However, unremarkable as they may be, promotional beach balls and printed beach balls may well win the promotional products prize as being the most FUN!

So promotional beach balls are not exactly PlayStations, but few things add merriment to an otherwise quotidian day out or picnic like a printed beach ball. Once upon a time, when I was travelling in Austria with my brothers, we went to see Robbie Williams…or rather, we went and sat outside a Robbie Williams concert and ate sausages and chocolate bananas. But the effect was the same. The point is that the walk home, all the way from one side of Vienna to the other, was comparatively tedious and we quickly grew weary of the evening…until some saintly street advertiser gave us a beach ball. Now it may sound silly to you readers, but to us this beach ball made a boring walk home from a night out (literally a night “outside”) into one huge game of “Kick the beach ball – chase the beach ball – kick the beach ball” that covered miles of Austrian capital! We played aforementioned game through the crazed depths of a funfair; punting beneath towering Ferris wheels, dashing behind crudely-made coconut shies and darting between gyrating contraptions of dubious mechanic stability…all the way home. It was a night of chaos and frivolity, the memories of which live on in my mind and will no doubt continue to do so for many years. But over the course of the entire night, one word burnt itself into the back of my mind…Kodak.

Yes indeed; the company that had been handing out promotional beach balls has now ensured that its name is emblazoned into my subconscious thanks to all the hours I spent kicking that damn ball around Europe; for though the original one burst and a second was given away to a group of old women who wanted it for their sons, a third ball was actually carried around the rest of Europe with us and may actually still be in a box somewhere at home!

The only regret I have of that night is that we didn’t get a good picture of us kicking the printed beach balls around; our cameras just weren’t good enough.

So, if you want people to subconsciously fall in love with your company, or just want them to have a good time, try whacking your name of promotional beach balls.